PSALM CVI. ISRAEL'S SINS.

THIS Psalm presents chiefly the same narrative as Psalm lxviii., but with suffi*cient differences to show the workings of another mind. It appears, also, to have been composed during one of the periods of national calamity, verse 47. At the same time the Psalmist gives utterance to the language of unwavering faith in God's mercy to Israel, verse 48, and of earnest longing, for a personal share in the Covenant, verse 5.

I. GOD'S REPEATED MERCIES TO ISRAEL.

II. ISRAEL'S PROVOCATIONS.

III. GOD'S FORGIVING LOVE.

I. GOD'S REPEATED MERCIES TO ISRAEL. Reference is made to the "multitude of God's mercies to Israel before the passage of the Red Sea (verse 7). The temporal -ones are enumerated. Their spiritual mercies were:-the covenant made with Abraham, Gen. xii. 1-3; Gen. xvii. 6-8, 19. The holy laws which God Himself gave them for their governance, Ex. xviii. 20; Lev. x. 11. Their spiritual teachers, Jer. vii. 25. God's presence manifested amongst them, Ex. xiii. 21, 22; Ex. xxv. 22; Ex. xl. 34. The promises of pardon for sin, and all the spiritual blessings typified in their sacrifices and theirrites and worship, Heb. ix.; x. 1; and the hope of heaven, Heb. xi. 16. Contrast these spiritual privileges with the. darkness and ignorance of heathen nations, and well might the Psalmist "glory with God's inheritance," verse 5.

II. ISRAEL'S PROVOCATIONS. Mistrust of God's power and goodness (verse 7) at the Red Sea, Ex. xiv. 11, 12: in their journeying through the wilderness, Ex. xvi. 2; Ex. xvii. 2; at the report of the spies, Num. xiv. 2-4. Forgetfulness of past mercies (verses 13, 21), which should have led them to place implicit reliance on his power and willingness to help at all times.

Disobedience to God, showed in sparing the Canaanites (verses 34, 35), who afterwards became a snare to them, Ex. xxiii. 33; Judges ii. 3. Self-indulgence (verse 14), not satisfied with the manna, although it was ample for them, Num. xi. 4, 33, and coveting the spoil dedicated to destruction, 1 Sam. 1. 19, 21. Idolatry (verses 19, 20, 28, 36—38). This was Israel's great sin, the more remarkable because they well knew the true God and the utter folly of all idol worship. Yet, so deceitful is man's heart, that they early fell into it, Ex. xxxii. 4. They learnt idolatry of the heathen nations round about, Judges ii. 1—3; Ezek. xvi. 20. Contempt of God and his promises (verse 24), shown in despising the good land that He promised them here, Num. xiii. 14; in their forsaking Him to worship idols, and despising all the spiritual blessings of the covenant, like Esau, Gen. xxv. 34.

III. GOD'S FORGIVING LOVE. Shewn in his delivering them, notwithstanding their rebellion, again, and again. At the Red Sea, at Horeb, at Kadesh, at the intercession of Moses, Ex. xxxii. Num. xi. 2; xiv. 17-20. In the wilderness Num. xi.; xiv.; xvi.; xxi. When they rebelled, then God punished them, not in anger or He would have utterly destroyed them, but in mercy, to bring them to repentance; when they repented, then God heard their cry, and delivered them see book of Judges. He made their oppressors merciful (verse 46).

Forgiving love is God's most glorious attribute Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7; Num, xiv. 18.

APPLICATION.

Let the Psalmist's prayer be ours,—“Oh ! visit me with thy salvation," verse 4. Like Israel, we have received a multitude of mercies,” like them we have forgotten them, and provoked the most High, yet He waits to be gracious if we will but turn and repent.

PSALM LXXIX. ISRAEL'S TROUBLES.

THIS Psalm unfolds a further chapter in the narrative of Israel's troubles. The temporary afflictions related in the preceding lessons had proved insufficient to bring the people to effectual repentance; and now had come the terrible visitation which Moses had long since foretold in case of the people persisting in rebellion. See Lev. xxvi. 21-33; Deut. xxxi. 29. The language of this Psalm shows that there was yet a pious remnant, men like Jeremiah who mourned both, the guilt and the misery of the nation, but the great body of the people had deeply and obstinately apostatized (see for instance 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14—16.) and God's holiness needed to be vindicated by severe judgments. The Psalmist pleads with God for his guilty and oppressed people, in the language of deep humiliation, of holy jealousy for his honour-and of humble confidence in his future purposes. I. THE CRY OF DISTRESS. II. THE PLEA FOR PARdon.

III. THE CARE FOR GOD'S HONOUR.

IV. REVIVING HOPE.

I. THE CRY OF DISTRESS.-Israel in prosperity had despised God, but in adversity to whom should they flee but unto Him who alone was able to save. Adversity is often the road to repentance, Ps. cxix. 67, 71; Luke xv. 14-18; How utterly helpless was their state now, unless God should help, 2 Chron. xiv. 11; see 2 Kings vi. 27. The Holy Temple, the glory and pride of the Jews, into which no Gentile might enter, Acts xxiv. 6. even the Holy Place itself was defiled by the heathen, 2 Kings xxv. Their beautiful city, the joy of the whole earth, Ps. xlviii. 2, was laid waste, Micah iii. 12. They were oppressed, persecuted, and slain by their enemies, with none to pity, none to save them, Lam. i. 1, 4. II. THE PLEA FOR PARDON.-What plea, what justification, could Israel urge? They had rebelled against God, and provoked Him to anger, and now they suffer only the just punishment of their sins, just such as had been foretold, Deut, xxviii from verse 14. What then could be their plea for pardon? "Not for works of righteousness which they had done, but according to his mercy," he would pardon, Tit, iii. 5. His past mercies should be their plea for more, Ps. xxv. 6; lxxvii. 5, 11. If our own righteousness were our only ground of hope, we might indeed despair, Isa. lxiv. 6, but God will deliver for his own fake, Isa. xxxvii. 35; xliii. 25, for his own name's sake, Isa. xlviii. 11; Ezek XX. 9, 14, 22, 44. See the plea,-For thine inheritance, thy holy temple, thy servants; it was, because they were his, that they hoped for his help.

III. THE CARE FOR GOD'S HONOUR. The heathen would judge the God of the Israelites, by their own idols, and say, he was not able to rescue his people. Thus Moses pleaded, Ex. xxxii. 12; Num. xiv. 13-19. God shows his almighty power most chiefly, in showing mercy and pity. The plea was founded upon great zeal, for God's honour, verse 10, 12. The Israelites proclaimed Him as the God of all the earth, but the heathen would not believe in Him if he left his people to perish.

IV. REVIVING HOPE.-The prayer for help, was the prayer of faith. The Psalmist had faith in his plea, hence (verse 13) he speaks as though assured, that God would grant his petition, and again restore Israel, and therefore he concludes with thanksgiving and praise, Is. xliii. 21. See God's promises in answer to faithful prayer, James vi. 16; Matt. xxi. 22; 1 John iii. 23; v. 14.

APPLICATION.

God our refuge in distress. Faithful prayer is sure of a gracious answer. honour should be our first care.

God's

PSALM LXXX. ISRAEL'S PRAYER.

In this Psalm the narrative is carried a step further; for the Psalmist, in verse 16, points to the total political destruction of the nation. In verses 9-16 we have a rapid sketch of the whole Jewish history under the parable of a vine, once flourishing, but now trampled under foot; and in that low estate, oppressed and scorned, the writer pleads with God as Israel's ancient guardian and guide, and appeals, in striking language, for the appearance of a long promised and expected deliverer: see verse 17.

I. PAST MERCIES ARE THE PLEDGE OF FUTURE ONES.

II. GOD'S BLESSING IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF LIGHT AND PEACE.

III. GOD CHASTENS HIS PEOPLE, BUT WILL NOT SUFFER THEM TO PERISH. IV. CHRIST IS THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH.

I. PAST MERCIES THE PLEDGE OF FUTURE ONES.-The Psalmist (Asaph), bewailing Israel's present calamities. and pleading for deliverance, founds his plea upon what God has done already. When oppressed in Egypt, He delivered them (verse 8). He had cast out seven nations, greater and stronger than they, to make room for them, Deut. vii. 1. He had caused them, one man's family, to increase so that they could not be numbered for multitude, Gen. xiii. 16; 1 Kings iii. 8. He who had done so much was able to do all they asked, Gen. xviii. 14; Mark x. 27; and having done so much, He surely would not desert his people. God loves thus to be "put in remembrance," Is. xliii. 26.

II. GOD'S BLESSING IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF LIFE AND PEACE.-Those who have experienced the joy and peace of God's favour cannot exist without it. Hence the plea, "Cause Thy face to shine." Before we can enjoy God's blessing we must repent of sin. Hence the prayer, "Turn us again." David could not live without God's favour, Ps. li. 11, 12; xxx. 7. Moses would not stir without God's presence, Ex. xxxiii. 15.

III. GOD CHASTENS HIS PEOPLE, BUT WILL NOT SUFFER THEM TO PERISH.He chastens them for their good, to bring their sins to their remembrance, Gen. xlii. 21; to lead them to repent and to forsake them, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 13, He chastens them because He loves them, Prov. iii. 12; Heb. xii. 6. It is a sign that they are his people, Heb. xii. 8. Though at the time it seems to be grievous, Heb. xii. 11, yet afterwards they rejoice in it, Ps. cxix. 67, 71; Lam. iii.

Though He bear long with them, yet at last He will have mercy, Luke xviii. 7. He will not suffer them to perish-because they are his—because of his promises, Deut. vii. 8; because He remembers their frailty, Ps. ciii. 14; because of his own glory and honour, Is. xlviii. 11; Ezek. xx. 9, 14; and above all, because Christ died for them, John iii. 16; x. 28.

IV. CHRIST IS THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH.-The hope of the Jews rested on the promised Messiah. Hence the Psalmist prays that He may be revealed. In verse 17, under the term "The Branch," he speaks of Him as being burned and cut down. The stock of whom He was to come was almost destroyed. Christ is often spoken of as the Branch, Is. xi.; Zech. iii. 8. In verse 17, the Psalmist prays that He may be revealed, to save and deliver his people. In all their troubles and oppressions the hope of the Jews rested on the Messiah, John i. 45: Luke i. 69-74. All their sacrifices pointed to Him as their Saviour John i. 36; 1 Pet. i. 19, 20; Rev. xiii. 8. Mercy was all they could ask, and that was to be obtained only through Christ, typified in their sacrifices.

APPLICATION.

Have we hope in Christ? Do we rejoice in the light of God's countenance? Has God yet chastened us for sin?

PSALM XLIV. ISRAEL'S COMPLAINT.

WE have here a more general description of the Jewish nation in calamity, such as we cannot with certainty assign to any particular period. But it supplies an interesting record of the feelings of a pious Jew, amidst the sins and troubles of his people. And there is one peculiar feature in this Psalm, viz., that the writer speaks in the name of the faithful portion of the nation, describing their constancy amidst prevailing unfaithfulness, and mingles with his lamentations words of firm hope in the ultimate issue.

I. ISRAEL'S ANCIENT GREATNESS HAD BEEN GOD'S DOING.

II. ISRAEL'S PRESENT TROUBLES WERE GOD'S CHASTENINGS.

III. SUFFERING SPRINGS FROM SIN.

ISRAEL'S ANCIENT GREATNESS HAD BEEN GOD'S DOING. A truth specially and repeatedly impressed upon them by God.

After the passage of the Red Sea, and overthrow of Pharoah's host, Moses in his song teaches them to ascribe their deliverance to the right hand of God, Ex. xv. 7, 8. The same lesson is inculcated in all Moses' words, and God's signs and wonders throughout the subsequent wanderings. Manna was rained down that they might know that the Lord had brought them forth out of Egypt, Exod. xvi. 6. Amalek was conquered through the uplifting of Moses' hands in token, whence only victory could be looked for, Exod. xvii. 11. The law was prefaced with the same reminder, "I am the Lord thy God," &c. Exod. xx. 1.

But the great work wrought for their fathers, which the sons of Korah celebrate in this Psalm, is the casting out of the nations from Canaan, and the possession of the land, the long looked-for consummation of the promise of 470 years, Gən. xii. 3, 7. Verses 1-3, ascribe this glorious achievement to God alone, and he vindicated it as his own work by his miraculous interventions, Josh. ii., iii. vi., x. &c.

Israel's prosperity depended on the constant recognition that all his greatness was God's doing; therefore did the pious Jew, as in this Psalm, call it to his remembrance in the day of his people's adversity.

In verses 4-8, the Psalmist uses the recital of God's noble acts in the olden time, as a ground of prayer, a source of confidence in a similar deliverance, and a call for self-distrust, under present adversities.

These troubles

II. ISRAEL'S PRESENT TROUBLES WERE GOD'S CHASTISEMENTS. are the subject of complaint in ver. 9-16, and the more general conjecture as to their occasion refers them to the invasion of Sennacherib, in the reign of Hezekiah, Kings xviii. and xix., ver. 16 being thought to allude to the blasphemy of Rabshakeh. The Psalmist in professing (ver. 17-22) the integrity of the small remnant of "Israelites indeed," the "7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal," acknowledges the cause of their calamities. Israel, as a nation, had forgotten God; dealt falsely in the covenant; their heart was turned back; they had stretched out their hands to a strange God, therefore they were chastened, ver. 20 21; see 1 John iii. 20, ver. 22 quoted Rom. viii. 36.

III. SUFFERING SPRINGS FROM SIN. How plainly taught in the experience of the Jews-in the forty years' wanderings, in the oppressions under the Judges, in the captivities under the the Kings, and in the subsequent and present condition of that unhappy people. The pious Jew lamenting the sins and troubles of his country, knew how to connect the two.

The same is true still.

APPLICATION.

SALVATION IS OF GOD ALONE. The whole Psalm may be spiritualized, Zech iv. 6; Hos. i. 7; Isa. xliii. 11.

THE expressions used in verses 6, 7, of this Psalm, make it probable that it was composed during the very time of the taking of Jerusalem, when the Holy City had just become the prey of the enemy, and the temple was devoted to destruction. We are scarcely able to enter into all the feelings with which a pious Jew would regard such calamities, for both the city and the temple were hallowed by outward signs and ordinances far above all others, and the misery of disappointed hope and lost blessings, was proportionately more severe. The language through

out is that of deep depression, with scarcely a gleam of that hope which we have noticed in the previous lessons. But there is one point to which the writer turns as his only refuge, viz., God's covenant with his inheritance, verses 2, 20.

I. SIN CUTS OFF THE SINNER FROM GOD.

II. THEY WHOM GOD HAS FORSAKEN ARE EXPOSED TO EVERY DANGER.
III. GOD'S POWER NEVER FAILS.

I. SIN CUTS OFF THE SINNER FROM GOD. Sin is that abominable thing which God hates, Jer. xliv. 4. Light and darkness cannot exist together, so the holy God cannot dwell with sin, 2 Cor. vi. 15. Sin separates from God, Is. lix. 2. Though He loves the sinner, Jno. iii. 16, yet He hates sin. The sinner himself desires to flee from God's presence, as Adam did, Gen. iii. 8, and Jonah, Jonah i. 3. Sin in the heart drives out the love of God. Living in sin we cannot look upon Him as a friend with loving confidence. David felt that his sin had alienated him from God, Psalm li. Sin caused God to abandon Balaam, Num. xxxi. 8.; and Saul, 1 Sam. xvi. 14. The Israelites lost God's favour and support again and again on account of their sin. See Book of Judges and Books of Kings. King Manasseh, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 1-20, He refuses to hear prayer while we persist in sin, Ps. lxvi. 18; Is. i. 15; Lam. iii. 44.

II. THEY WHOM GOD HAS FORSAKEN ARE EXPOSED TO EVERY DANGER. God alone can protect; if He desert us who can deliver us? See Cain's sense of this forlorn state, Gen. iv. 13, 14. If they have been recognised as God's people, the world is all the more bitter against them, Psalm lxxi. 11. How the enemies of the Israelites triumphed when God forscok them, Judges xvi. 21-24; Dan. v. 2. The Jews were deprived of their synagogues (verse 8), even the outward ordi nances of their religion, 2 Kings xxv. 9; Isa. lxiv. 11; of their spiritual privileges There was not a prophet or teacher amongst them, verse 9. They had despised God's ordinances, Jer. xxv. 3-5; xxxv. 14, 15; now they were deprived of them Isa. iii. 1, 2; Lam. ii. 9. Misery and oppression were their lot, verse 20; Lam. i. How forlorn Saul felt, 1 Sam. xxviii. 15, and Manasseh. 2 Chron. xxxiii. III. GOD'S POWER NEVER FAILS. What hope had they left? Just this, God's power and love. The remembrance of past mercies sustained them, verses 12-17 What He had done He could do again. His arm was not shortened, Isa. lix. 1; they could rely upon his power with whom all things are possible, Luke xviii. 27. They had experienced this power of old, verse 12; Josh. vi. There was no limit to it, verses 16, 17; Luke i. 37.

How many have experienced this; Gideon, David, Daniel. Those who rely upon this power shall never find it fail, Ps. cxxv. 1. Then their plea was God's honor, not for themselves, not because of their deservings, nor yet their sufferings, but only God's honour, ver. 10, 18, 22, 23. For what purpose would He be more willing to put forth his power? Lest the heathen should think Him such an one as their own idols.

APPLICATION.

Privileges despised and neglected are often taken away. Sin separates us from God. They whom God forsakes are lost indeed.